The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-10-28
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Electricity has entered sport FOR the
angler who wishes to let his line float
gently with the stream, without the
trouble of watching It, a little electric
arrangement has been devised whereby a
pull upon the line closes the circuit and
rings bell.
French chemists who have recently IN
Yestigated the nature of saccharine put
on record the fact that this compound
traverses the organism without any altera-
ton, and that it has an antiscptic prop
erty; its sweetness is not similar to cane
sugar, as has been asserted; its flavor IS
slightly saline and raw.
According to recent Investigations by
Dr. Chon, an eminent authority on the
subject, diffused daylight is not IN
furious TO the eye, the great desideratum
| therefore in artificial illumination being
to initiate the conditions of natural
light-that is, it should not be dazzling,
should be supplied beautifully, should
not heat the eyes, and should burn
steadily:
1t has been assumed that the pain
which follows the singing of the nettle,
and possibly other plants, is due TO formic
acid. DR.. Haberland. of Vienna, de
! monstrates clearly that this is an error
It is not formic acid that is emitted by
these singing hairs; though just what it
is the Doctor is not able to determine. 1t
NAV lead to examination now that the
generally accepted belief is demonstrated
to be erroneous.
Prof. Manuel AIarazta has discovered
race of dwarfs, not more than four feet
'gh, in the valley of Rebas (Gerona,
mgp), at the end of the Eastern Pyren-
~ the individuals have red hair,
X, strongly developed jaws, fat
4 eyes which arc oblique, like
81 Mongolians. The males have
picard save a few hairs, and the sexes
IRE very much alike. They intermarry
Lmong themselves, live isolated from
fheir neighbors, and have no chance for
Improvement
Some singular objects which appeared
in Berkshire, England, in January, 1871,
were described by Rev. A Bonney at a
late meeting of the Royal Meteorological
Society. A little before noon, n group
of air bubbles, resembling ordinary toy
balloons in size and shape, were seen to
rise from level space of snow to con-
siderable height, and then to move up
and down within a limited area and at
equal distances from each other. After
about two minutes they were caught by
an air-cuirent and borne eastward out of
sight. Another group rose from the
same spot and exhibited precisely the
same movements.
In recounting some of the scientific
discoveries and inventions of modern
times, Sir John Lubbock declares that
| recent investigations show that many old
principles have far wider application
than was suspected by those who discov-
cred them-as, for instance, that the
formula of the law of gravitation, as IS
, now known, applies TO electricity, and
probably to other modes of force. The
invention of dynamite and other nitro
gen compounds, as a destructive force,
says Professor Lubbock, promises to play
an important part in the history OF clvili-
cation. Chemistry has yielded large
number of compounds to prevent disease
and alleviate pain, and for the use of the
arts In connection with the sciences OF
heat, light and sound, much has become
known, the application of which has
greatly increased the comforts and
pleasures of life, but it is to electricity
that the largest number of useful inven-
tons are due.